Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall
by HallowedInk
Summary: "...Who's the fairest of them all? Is it Kingsley, dark and tall? Or could it be Astoria, sweet for sure?" Compilation fic, covers many characters of all generations.


**Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall**

_[...Who's the fairest of them all? Is it Kingsley, dark and tall? Or could it be Astoria, sweet for sure?]_

* * *

"_It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that." – Albus Dumbledore_

* * *

The first time Astoria meets Draco Malfoy, _properly_ meets Draco Malfoy, is in his Seventh Year, her Fifth. She is out after curfew because she fell asleep in the library – how awful; imagine what Daphne would say! – and to avoid Filch she ends up slipping into an abandoned classroom.

He is sitting on the floor, leaning against the leg of a desk. He looks exhausted.

She hesitates in the doorway. Malfoy has never particularly endeared himself to the younger years; he is obnoxious and a bully. Now, however, he looks nothing like the arrogant, strong person that she remembers. He looks tired, worn down so much that all that is left is skin and bones.

"Malfoy?" she asks eventually.

He is startled, and jumps up from the floor. He looks around wildly.

"Wha—what?"

She blinks nervously. "Um, it's Astoria – Astoria Greengrass. Daphne's sister." Does he know her? They have never spoken before. But maybe he'll recognise her. She's been mistaken for Daphne before, they look so similar.

Sure enough, he focuses on her. "Daphne?"

"No," she repeats patiently, "Astoria."

He relaxes. "Oh. Well, come in." He looks expectant, so Astoria complies. When she is next to him, he gestures to the mirror. "What do you see?"

She glances in. There she is standing, a little bit older and smiling happily. Behind her is her family, and she has to check instinctively that they are not really standing behind her. Daphne is next to her, smiling for once. Her father is there, and he looks proud. And there – there is her mother, looking as beautiful as ever. Alive.

"My family," she answers carefully, keeping her voice even.

"Oh." He frowns.

"Why, what do you see?" she asks back, averting her eyes from the image. She cannot bear to look at her mother anymore. Every time she sees so much as a photo, she is reminded vividly of Clarissa Greengrass's death.

"Me?" he replies in a low, hoarse voice. "I see happiness."

* * *

The Mirror first reappears at the end of the holidays shortly before Severus Snape's first and only year as Headmaster of Hogwarts.

He is prowling the halls of the old castle, thinking half-heartedly that he should get to know the castle a little better now that he is Headmaster. And, okay, so it isn't entirely his idea; there was a little – or a lot of – prompting from Albus's portrait. Even in death, the old coot can't stop being manipulative.

So Severus prowls the halls reluctantly, mentally justifying it as _finding all of the places where the little brats would be able to hide_.

He is definitely not getting to know the castle, or letting the castle get to know him, like Albus says.

And then he finds a slightly open classroom door, and he peers in the room as he closes it – and stops.

In the room, there is a sight he remembers. Something which he has seen before, when he was a boy first attending Hogwarts.

Against the back wall of the classroom, standing tall and proud, is a mirror.

The Mirror.

He looks in it, like everyone else before him and everyone else after him.

Lily, of course.

She is smiling, her arm around him – and goodness, he can almost feel it really there – and James Potter is just a distant memory.

And then there is Albus's voice in the back of his head – "It does not do to dwell on dreams, Severus." – and he doesn't like being reminded of James Potter. He pulls away and makes sure to lock the classroom door when he leaves.

Back in his office, he helps himself to a generous glass of Firewhiskey. To forget.

* * *

The classroom stays locked for a long time after that, except for the momentous occasion with Astoria Greengrass and Draco Malfoy, which comes about only because the Malfoy scion is rather too adept at finding out Severus's secrets when he wants to be.

Anyone's secrets, really.

And then the Battle of Hogwarts begins, the Slytherins are taken away, and Nymphadora Tonks-Lupin is fighting – and running – for her life.

She flies down a corridor and sees a closed door. She wrenches at the handle, but it is locked. "Alohomora," she snarls desperately, just as the Death Eater rounds the corner. The handle gives and she throws herself into the room, locking the door again behind her.

She doesn't remember this room from her time at Hogwarts. It is dank and gloomy, except for the centrepiece which shines with unholy light. A mirror.

"_Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi_," she reads, tracing a finger over the frame. Then her childlike curiosity overcomes her and she looks in it.

She sees family, her mother and her father looking happy, her and Remus together, and her son, her Teddy in her arms. They are all smiling, all happy, all together like she knows they won't be ever again.

Footsteps out in the hall distract her, as the Death Eater who was chasing her runs by. The battle awaits her, she remembers, so she leaves the Mirror and, as soon as it is safe, the room too. She finds Remus, and they fight side-by-side for the rest of the night.

Later that night, she dies.

* * *

Minerva McGonagall becomes the next Headmistress, but it is a bittersweet job. Above her hangs the death of her mentor, like Damocles's sword.

She, too, wanders the castle, frequently in fact, unsure if she is trying to forget or remember. Here is where Remus Lupin fought for his life. Here is where Nymphadora Tonks-Lupin died beside him. Here is where Colin Creevy had his last ever Tranfiguration lesson with her. Here is where Albus taught her Transfiguration, taught her the history of the school, employed her as a teacher, named her Deputy.

Here is where Albus died.

And here—

She steps into a room she doesn't know and sees a familiar Mirror. She sighs.

Here is where Harry Potter started his mischief. Here is the Mirror that he managed to save the school with in his First Year.

She didn't always approve of what Albus did, but now when she glances in the Mirror, she thinks she can understand. She sees everyone who has died around her. Maybe they are not alive, but they are happy. Happy wherever they are.

She leaves the classroom unlocked when she goes. If the Mirror helps someone else in future, well, then it has earned its keep.

* * *

George sees Fred, it is as simple as that.

He stumbles across the Mirror at the first Hogwarts reunion after the war, when he is mixing the reliving of fond memories with a healthy dose of escaping. He is gazing at himself and his twin, alive and whole again, quite happily when the darned ghost of his darned twin, who had taken to haunting him, of all things, picks that moment to pop up behind him.

"I know, I know I'm beautiful, but you can stop staring in the Mirror now, you twit. I'm right behind you."

George rolls his eyes and leaves, pretending there isn't a smile on his face and thoughts of finally telling his mother about Fred's ghost in his heart.

* * *

Ironically, George is also the one to come across Luna Lovegood in front of the Mirror. He had seen her wander in during yet another ball – a commemoration this time – and had followed on a whim. She is examining the frame when he enters.

"So, what do you see, then?" he asks from the doorway.

She turns. "Oh, hello George."

"Hi Luna." He frowns curiously at her. "What are you doing?"

"I think it's infested with Nargles," she observes in a mild, airy voice.

"Oh. That's, um, nice." There is an awkward pause before he returns to his original question. "So, what do you see?"

She throws a little sideways glance into the Mirror, as if she has only just thought of looking into it now, before replying, "Me finding the Crumple-Horned Snorkack. What else?"

He finds nothing else to say except an ironic little "Yes, what else?" so he leaves soon after. And yet, all the way back to the Hall, George is unable to shake the feeling that, somehow, Luna had been lying.

* * *

After the first year, the Mirror goes on a tour. The Ministry aggressively commandeers anything that it can get its hands on which had anything to do with Harry Potter, and puts it all on show in a hall in the Ministry. It is publicity and hero-worship, all wrapped up in one, which serves their purposes perfectly.

They even try to turn Bellatrix Lestrange's vault into a museum, but both Gringotts and the Malfoys protest heavily, so the plan is dropped.

Nevertheless, the Potter Hall is founded in the Ministry, and the Mirror forms part of it. It has its own room at the end of the hall, and it stands alone in the centre in all its splendour, whilst the room tries its hardest to imitate the nondescript chamber in which Harry Potter fought Quirrel and Voldemort in his first year.

Here, a lot of people come to visit it. Many look from the door, but some – those who know Harry Potter a little more intimately than the average witch or wizard – go in and brave a look into its depths.

* * *

Lavender Brown is accompanied to the exhibition by Theodore Nott. He was in St. Mungo's at the same time as she was after the end of the war, and they had met by coincidence. Now, they have bonded over the fact that her friends have largely abandoned her and his family is largely dead, and so they collectively have no one but each other.

Lavender never did like clichés, despite the impression she had cultivated during her younger years.

Theo picks her up at her parents' home, with a dress box in his arms. She hasn't been out in months, since the battle in fact, so she welcomes this opportunity. Once she is dressed in the robes he bought for her, he gallantly offers her his arm and they apparate to the Ministry.

She doesn't know why either of them thought they would enjoy the ball. She is stared at because of her scars, he is stared at because of his name, and they are both stared at because they are together. Ten minutes later they leave, and somehow they end up in the exhibition.

They look in the Mirror together after Lavender explains as much as she knows about what it does. Lavender sees herself with Theo's arm around her, much as they are standing now. Mirror-Lavender lifts a hand, and a wedding ring glints on her ring finger.

Then Theo turns her away from the Mirror, and looking at his face she realises that they have seen the same thing.

"Will you—" he asks at the same time as she says, "Do you—"

They both smile and laugh, and when the next person comes in he is surprised to find them kissing.

* * *

Like many before and after him, Neville is escaping a function when he comes across the Mirror. He follows Lavender and Theo out, partly because he feels protective of his House-mate, and partly because he can't stand the atmosphere anymore.

He gives them their privacy when they enter the Mirror hall, mostly because he already knows what he will see, and can't quite decide whether he wants to see it.

His mind is made up for him when Lavender and Theo take too long to come out. He peers around the door and sees them kissing. He isn't very surprised.

He clears his throat and suppresses a chuckle when they jump guiltily apart.

"N—Neville!" Lavender stammers guiltily.

Now, Neville does laugh. "Oh, don't mind me. Do carry on."

They glare at him, but both of them are laughing too. They hurry from the room – Neville doesn't even want to know what they are planning on doing now – and he takes their place in front of the Mirror.

Just as he expected, there is his family. He has long since accepted that his parents are never going to be fully functional again, but that does not stop him from wishing. Nevertheless, he realises as he gazes at them and sees them smile and wave back, he is mostly glad that they are alive. At least he knows them. Harry will never know his parents. Teddy will never know how amazing Remus and Tonks were. And so many other people were orphaned by the terrible War. He should be thankful for what he has—

That is when Neville witnesses a phenomenon that few have ever heard of, let alone seen, before. Before his eyes, the image in the Mirror shifts. His parents, though still there, become part of the background, joined by his grandmother and his friends. In the foreground, he stands, and suddenly he is joined by a short, homely blonde.

Hannah Abbott.

As he watches, she leans up and kisses him on the cheek. His mirror image slips an arm around her waist.

In the real world, Neville smiles, suddenly knowing exactly what he wants. He leaves the room, passing Lavender and Theo on the way out, and heads downstairs to find Hannah.

* * *

Dennis finds the Mirror when he goes to see what is so great about Harry Potter. Collin used to worship the Boy Who Lived, but Dennis just doesn't see it. He is just some boy who got lucky... unlike Collin, who was unlucky, and Dennis, who is even more unlucky.

When he looks in the Mirror, he sees Collin, the happy-go-lucky older brother he used to idolise, running around, snapping photos and grinning broadly.

Dennis sits on the stone bench near the wall and just stares into the Mirror, greedily drinking in the sight of his brother. He could sit here forever. He would—

Except that at that moment he is interrupted when Ginny Weasley walks into the room.

* * *

Dennis Creevey has all but wasted away since Ginny last saw him, He looks terrible. She feels bad, because she knows why. It makes her feel guilty, because Collin shouldn't have died. He was too young. They should have been able to protect him.

Then she follows his gaze and she sees the Mirror. Harry has told her all about it, and his related adventures, once, and she recognises it instantly.

"You know," she drawls, startling Dennis out of his daze as she quotes what Harry told her, "A wise man once said, 'It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.'"

"Oh." He looks away guiltily for a moment, and gestures at the Mirror. "What do you see?"

Ginny chances a glances in, and relates, "I see my idiot of a boyfriend finally proposing to me." She scowls. "Which he will soon, if he knows what is good for him."

"I'm sure he will," Dennis responds awkwardly, and the following silence is heavy with the knowledge that her boyfriend is Harry Potter, whom Dennis partly blames for his brother's death.

Eventually, they both leave, and they part ways with an awkward "Well, bye then" at the door.

Less than a month later, Dennis is unsurprised to see the announcement of Harry Potter's proposal to Ginny Weasley in the _Daily Prophet_.

He is surprised to see it coupled with the news that Ginny is pregnant, though. It takes him a long time, but he eventually decides he should be happy for the young couple, instead of angry that they are getting the happiness which Collin deserved.

* * *

Parvati goes to see the Mirror on Lavender's advice.

"It helped me find my true love!" the idiot had simpered. "Maybe it'll help you with yours." Then she had allowed Parvati to admire – and be jealous of – the big, obnoxious diamond engagement ring on her finger.

Parvati scowls at the thought. It seems like ever since they have drifted apart, Lavender just has it all. But, Parvati reflects, it's always like that. Everyone else always gets what they want, and Parvati just gets stuck with nothing. Padma is just the same.

Oh, how she wishes she were an only child sometimes.

In the Mirror she sees herself outshining Padma. She leaves straight away, scowling bitterly. She knows that that could never happen.

* * *

Ironically, Padma also goes to see the Mirror on a tipoff from Lavender. It occurs at her wedding to Theodore Nott: the bride and groom are asked how they knew they were meant for one another. After all, they are such an unlikely pair!

"Well," replies Lavender, "I guess it's all down to the Mirror."

"What Mirror?"

"The Mirror of Erised, of course! The one in the Potter Hall in the Ministry. It shows your desires, you see."

Padma goes there the very next morning, and she is the first one in when it opens. She hurries through the main hall into the Mirror room, hardly caring for any other exhibit.

She isn't sure what she is expecting to see, but when she glances in the Mirror she knows this isn't it.

There she is, and there Parvati is, and they are hugging and acting like best friends, the way they haven't been since before Hogwarts happened. Padma is simultaneously bitterly disappointed – where is _her_ One True Love? – and filled with hope.

She resolves to get to work on Parvati immediately, so that next time she looks in the Mirror she will see something different.

* * *

Romilda Vane looks in the Mirror and sees herself with Harry Potter. Miserable, she returns home, back to her horrible family, where she is ignored because she's the _half-sister from the other wife_.

She does decide to come back again sometime.

After all, she can dream, even if it can never be reality.

* * *

Narcissa goes to see the Potter exhibition out of guilt.

The Potter boy had saved her from a sentence in Azkaban, and had substantially reduced the sentence of her husband. Though this was already several years back, she still felt that she owed him for his services – even though he insisted that he didn't want anything.

A Pureblood doesn't like to be in debt.

She goes to the exhibition to see if there is anything in there that can help her find closure on the matter.

She sees giant chess pieces, a model of a Hippogriff, a mini replica of what the Chamber of Secrets might look like, a fake Tri-Wizard cup, and many other things. And in the second, smaller room at the back, she sees a Mirror.

In it, she sees her son marrying that lovely witch he's courting at the moment. She sees her family walking with their heads held high, and not receiving hatred from everyone they meet. She sees an unfamiliar little blond-haired boy shaking hands with an equally unfamiliar black-haired Potter-lookalike. Draco's son and Potter's? She doesn't know.

She leaves again and thinks that even if she can't change anything, she can teach the next generation to make the changes.

* * *

Kingsley looks into the Mirror when his term as Minister ends. It is his only term, and he knew it would not last. He is not what the Wizarding World needs to get back on track. He was only transitional, running things with a steady hand, keeping things under control whilst the people recovered. Now, they need someone who will make changes. Someone who is strong and active.

Hermione Granger will be good for the job in a couple of years, he realises. Perhaps he should give her some pointers.

It seems fitting to end his term of office with a tribute to the one who made it possible, so he goes to see the exhibit.

In the Mirror, he sees everybody – Purebloods, Halfbloods, Muggleborns, Goblins, Elves, everyone – all standing equal, all looking to the future. A strong, bright, _hopeful_ future.

With a smile, he realises that this may well come true.

* * *

Charlie knows what he should see in the Mirror. He reads the little plaque: "_A mirror that shows the heart's true desire, used by Harry Potter to steal the Philosopher's Stone away from Lord Voldemort in his first year_."

He knows he should see his family whole and well. He is sure that that is what everyone else in the family sees.

But Charlie has always been the kind of guy who lives in the moment. The past is in the past, and he'd like it to stay there. Fred is dead, and there isn't much he can do about it now, six years after it happened. He thinks he is probably the first person in his family to really get over the tragedy.

Instead, he sees himself kissing that handsome Romanian Quidditch player he met a few weeks ago. He sees himself coming out to his Mum, and her welcoming him with open arms. He sees himself, and many other people, being accepted by the Magical World.

He returns to Romania, so far from close-minded, xenophobic little England. Not all wishes come true.

* * *

Pansy sees herself and Draco. She thinks about him all the time. It is unhealthy, she knows. It is driving her insane, she knows.

It can never be, she knows. His wedding was last year, and if the rumours are to be believed then his perfect Pureblood wife is already pregnant.

She goes home to her own husband, Blaise, second best, with a bitter heart.

It could never have been. Malfoys only marry blondes.

* * *

Andromeda sees her family. Ted is next to her, his arm around her. Dora and Remus are there, happy, looking down proudly at little Teddy. And Narcissa, her dear little sister, is there too.

Andromeda leaves as soon as she has finished looking at the exhibition. Harry Potter has done a lot for her, both good and bad, and this is only one more thing she will attribute to him. He has shown her how to get her life back on track.

She goes to visit Cissy soon after. Perhaps the rest of her family is dead, but there is always someone left.

* * *

Dean's father has always been a magical figure to him – fairytale magic, but also, as it turns out, truly magic. There is something wonderful about finally discovering, in a recently unsealed Gringott's vault, the letters from a missing father who you knew nothing about.

Now, Dean goes to see the Mirror of Erised because he knows it is the one thing that can help him recall a man he never knew.

In the Mirror, he sees a man, sturdy, tall, strong. Not too old, no doubt looking exactly as he had before he died. Perhaps a little hunted, but he is smiling broadly, and he embraces Dean's reflection.

Unlike so many people who came before him, Dean does not want to forget what he sees. No, Dean goes to the Mirror for a simpler purpose: to remember.

* * *

Bill and Fleur go to see the Mirror together, with their eldest child, Victoire, in tow. Victoire is going through a period of fascination with Harry Potter, and has insisted on coming to see the exhibition.

Whilst Victoire wanders around the main hall, peering into all of the glass cases, and running a hand across the giant chess pieces, her parents step into the smaller room to take a look at the famous mirror for themselves.

They stand in front of it, holding each other's hands tightly.

Together, they see images of their children running around and playing, starting school, making friends, perhaps even falling in love. They see a beautiful, happy future. A safe future, where their children can grow up without ever having to experience the hardship their parents had to go through.

They share a smile.

* * *

"Vicky, what do you see?" her Mummy asks her before they leave.

She shoots her parents a sly look from under her silvery-blond hair. "I see Daddy buying me an owl for my birthday."

Her parents laugh as they walk out and head to pick up Dominique and Louis, aged six and four respectively, from the Burrow.

* * *

Ron is already twenty-eight when he goes to see the Mirror, and a lot has happened in the ten years since the end of the war. He is married now, to Hermione of course. They have two lovely children: Rose is three and Hugo is four months old. He is a successful business man, having helped George pilot the joke shop to success.

He is quite curious as to what he will see, _because_, he thinks to himself, smiling fondly as the image of a certain bushy-haired bookworm pops into his head, _surely he already has everything he wants_?

He laughs to himself when he looks in the Mirror and sees the captain of the Chudley Cannons holding up the Quidditch Championship Cup. Behind him, the rest of the team is doing victory laps around the pitch. One of them has even shed his robes, and is showing off his muscled chest, much to the pleasure of the female half of the crowd.

Yes, Ron thinks as he leaves the exhibition, he has everything he could want in life.

Then he heads home to his family.

* * *

When Molly Weasley sees the Mirror, she already has more grandchildren than she ever had children. Her days are spent in a kind of happy bliss, pottering around the Burrow, catering to whichever child has stopped in for lunch, or just to visit, bringing their whole family with them.

She knows that they have a hidden motive – never leave Molly alone – but she doesn't mind. There is nothing more wonderful than being surrounded by family and hearing the joyful laughter of children fill the house.

Although, sometimes she does wish for a quiet moment, especially when that daughter of hers brings her awful little James to play. He's a right little monster, and reminds her terribly of Fred and George when they were that age. Seven, now, she believes?

The exhibition has been there for ten years, and it is not the first time she has come to see it. In fact, she has been there many times, and each time she goes and spends a few minutes in front of that Mirror. She knows it isn't healthy, but she just needs to _see_.

And see she does. She gazes into it, and there they are. There is everyone who died, alive again. And right at the front – there is her Fred, smiling and happy.

* * *

Arthur knows that Molly goes to see the Mirror, though she doesn't know that he knows. He doesn't talk to her about it, though, because he knows that they both need their privacy sometimes.

And also because he goes too.

He only goes once. He sees his family whole and happy.

Once is enough for him, though. Instead of dwelling on the image, he works as hard as possible to make it happen. They won't stay broken forever.

* * *

Percy is another person who goes more than once. Certainly, his job in the Ministry – Harry Potter's personal assistant – allows him ample opportunity to do so.

He has a specific time, Friday evenings, right before closing. The cleaners know him, and keep the doors open just long enough for him to pop in. He is always the last in before closing time.

He sits on the bench and stares into the Mirror, and sees the twins. He has never told George that he sees the twins, because he thinks that might do more harm than good. Nevertheless, he sees them, up to their usual tricks. Alive.

"We'd better get closed up now, Mr Weasley!" the cleaner calls from the main hall, breaking him out of his thoughts.

He leaves and goes back home to his wife and twin – oh, the irony – daughters, Molly and Lucy. They are five, playful, and everything he has ever wanted. He loves them more than anything.

Now if only he could stop thinking about Fred and George.

* * *

Gabrielle is one of the last people to see the Potter Hall before it is closed. She goes to the Ministry to register her new job – Charms professor at Hogwarts – with the new Employment Registry set up by Hermione Granger-Weasley, and decides to stop in at the famed exhibition on her way out.

In the Mirror, she sees a rather attractive young man – dark skin, dark hair, and mischievous eyes. She recognises him as a certain Mr Dean Thomas, whom she met at the last Ministry gala. She was rather charmed by him, she has to admit.

Imagine her surprise when, a few months later in September, she finds him at Hogwarts, as the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor.

She certainly takes the chance fate has offered her, and less than a year later she is Mrs Dean Thomas and proud of it.

* * *

The Mirror stays where it is for fifteen years. As it happens, this is the duration of three complete terms of three different Ministers of Magic. It only moves when Hermione Granger-Weasley takes the floor. It has taken her fifteen years, but she has finally made it. She is the youngest person to ever achieve this lofty position.

One of her first acts is to reform the Ministry properly, the way it should have been done after the War. In doing this, she stumbles across the Potter Hall, and with it the accursed Mirror of Erised.

When she looks in it, she sees her family. There are her parents, and there is the long line of Weasleys. Next to her is Ron. In front of them are her children: Rose is eight now, and if possible even more precocious than her mother was at that age. Little Hugo is five, and Hermione can just see the disaster he is going to be with the girls one day.

If Hermione had to put a name to the image, she would call it happiness. And she knows that, now that she has the position she has strived for, that is what she is going to achieve. Happiness and peace for everyone.

The very next day, she has the exhibition dismantled, and the pieces sent back to their rightful places. The Mirror returns to Hogwarts.

* * *

It is Hagrid who transports the Mirror, as a favour to Hermione. When he returns it to the room from whence it came, he chances a glance in it despite the fact that wizard magic rarely works on giants.

It works in this case, and he sees himself surrounded by all sorts of magical creatures.

It is a dream, that is true, especially with the new laws that are coming in, but the next day he owls Charlie Weasley, and in the next summer holidays he takes a trip out to Romania to see his old dragon.

* * *

Not a year after it returns to Hogwarts, Cornelia Flint finds the Mirror.

In it, she sees her father being let out of prison and reuniting with her mother.

She leaves quickly because she knows that the image can never be. It is wrong, because her father was a bad man. It is not her place to want to finally meet him. It is just that her mother always looks so sad, and perhaps if her father were there—

She hurriedly pushes the thought right into the deepest recesses of her mind and tries to forget all about it.

It gets replaced with the thought that her mother would be happier if Cornelia were in Slytherin like she was meant to be, and not Hufflepuff.

She lives with the two thoughts to the end of her days – though her future husband, James Potter, goes a long way in helping her to forget.

* * *

James Potter sees the Mirror in his fourth year, the year before his brother Albus comes to Hogwarts. In it, he sees himself as Quidditch Captain and Head Boy, even though it isn't possible to hold both positions.

He sees his Dad being proud of him, instead of just wasting all of his attention on Albus.

To distract himself, he drags his cousin Fred away from his girlfriend and despite Alice's disapproval they decide to prank the Slytherins again.

* * *

Scorpius and Albus see the Mirror together.

This is actually quite a coincidence – it is a week into their first year, they both happen to be exploring, and they both happen to stumble into the same room at the same time.

And there happens to be a tall, gold-framed mirror in that room.

Scorpius looks into it first, and immediately knows that what he is seeing can't be real. His mind is analytical, questioning like that; he supposes that is why he was put in Ravenclaw.

(Albus, meanwhile, is being a typical Slytherin and checking for traps. Of course, Scorpius can't know that this is because he has grown up with James for an older brother. He had long learnt to watch out for pranks.)

He looks back at the Mirror. Of course it can't be real, because it is something that can never happen. He sees himself and his family, accepted. People surround them and come up to him, clap him on the back or shake his hand or hug him. The last one to approach is Potter – who comes up next to him at the same time.

"What you got there, Malfoy?" He feels himself pushed to the side, and then Potter is looking in the Mirror.

Scorpius never knows exactly what Albus sees in the Mirror. He asks a couple of weeks later and gets a vague answer of "becoming my own person" and "not my Dad", which he guesses he can understand.

It doesn't matter though, because at that moment Albus turns and holds out his hand. "Want to be friends?"

Scorpius has a flash of the vision in the Mirror again. He grasps the hand – warm, calloused, larger than his own – and replies, "Gladly."

* * *

One day, Hogwarts's greatest Headmaster ever summons Harry Potter to his office.

Harry goes, of course, out of respect and simply because he has not spoken to his former Headmaster in a while. The old man is sitting in his portrait, smiling benevolently. He was chatting to Headmaster Flitwick, but when Harry enters they subside quickly.

"Harry, my dear boy. How are things coming along?"

"Just fine, Professor, and yourself?"

"Very good, very good. Filius, if you would?"

Flitwick nods respectfully and vanishes up a staircase into another room. Harry conjures himself a chair (rickety because, despite Hermione's tutoring, he is still terrible at this spell) and sits down.

"You wanted to see me, Professor."

"Just Albus now, Harry. My teaching days are long over."

"Of course, Prof—Albus." Harry has to force himself not to relieve the reason why those days are over.

"I was wondering if I could ask a favour of you, Harry." At Harry's nod, the portrait continues. All of the other former Headmasters and Headmistresses are leaning close to hear what the greatest Headmaster ever has to say to the Saviour of the Wizarding World. "There is a mirror in this castle, an old friend of yours, I suppose you could say."

Harry nods again, knowing exactly which mirror is meant. He wonders what Dumbledore wants with it now.

"I think it is time that the past were... put to rest."

Harry feels his breath catch. "What do you mean, Pr—Albus?"

"The Mirror of Erised is doing more harm than good. It is my wish that it be destroyed, and I think it is right that you are the one to do it."

* * *

The last person to lay eyes on the Mirror before it is destroyed is Harry Potter.

He finds it in the same room he first came across it, all those years ago, an abandoned classroom not far from the library, deep in the recesses of the castle. It stands proud and tall against the back wall, the ornate gold frame glinting in the weak sunlight filtering through the dirty windows. From a distance, he can just make out the inscription: "_Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi_."

Before he carries out Dumbledore's bidding, Harry chances one last glance into it. It is the false mirror, the mirror to show all of your heart's desires. In it he sees nothing else but—

—himself.

* * *

"_The happiest man in the world would be able to use the Mirror of Erised like a normal mirror, that is, he would look into it and see himself, exactly as he is." – Albus Dumbledore_

* * *

THE END

* * *

Notes:

Clarissa Greengrass: Murdered by her husband? I don't know.

Damocles's Sword: It's from a Greek legend. The story of Damocles was a moral anecdote. The sword represents the constant fear in which a great man lives. In this case, Dumbledore is the great man, and his death ties in to McGonagall's fear. The rest is up to you to interpret.

Luna: She saw her mother, I guess. I don't know. Maybe she wasn't actually lying. You decide.

Romilda: Her father remarried. She's disliked because she had a different mother. It's a bit like Cinderella, really.

Charlie: On the climate in the Wizarding World: I know many people would like to think that the magical world is ahead of ours in certain aspects, but I'm not sure this is true. There is much evidence of the antiquated attitudes, the statue in the Ministry, for example. So I have taken the view that gay rights are probably not exemplary in the magical world.

Cornelia Flint and Alice (Longbottom? maybe!) are OCs, obviously.

* * *

AN: In hindsight, I don't actually really like this story very much anymore, but I put a lot of work into it (both when it was originally written (3 years ago) and when it was completed and edited (February 2013)), so I decided to post it in the end. I just don't think all of the sections are realistic, but I don't want to rewrite it now, so it's staying that way. Anyway, that's the main reason why I delayed posting it for so long. The other reason is because I knew that when I posted it FF would take out all of the dividers, which of course it did, and as you can see there are a lot, so it was quite a faff to put them back in. Oh well. It's here now. If anything remained unexplained, let me know and I'll add it in. You know me-sometimes I don't translate my thoughts to paper very well!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to JKR and associated bodies, not me.

Thanks: To my boyfriend, who proof-read for me. Any remaining mistakes should be attributed to me.

Thanks for reading!


End file.
